At least 13 jailed as crackdown enters second week

New York, June 22, 2009--The Committee to Protect
Journalists calls on Iranian authorities to release all journalists detained in
the aftermath of the disputed presidential election and to lift the onerous
press restrictions that are choking information at a time when the country and
the world most need it. At least 13 journalists detained during a week of
protests were still in government custody as of late today, including veteran Newsweek
correspondent Maziar Bahari, according to CPJ research.

The massive media crackdown continued into its second week,
according to numerous sources. Many journalists have gone into hiding in
anticipation of arrest, colleagues said. Authorities instructed the BBC's
bureau chief to leave the country. The signals of the BBC and U.S.-government
backed radio and televisions stations remained jammed. The government shut the Tehran offices of a major
Arab satellite station indefinitely, the station said. Newspaper censorship is
widespread, an Iranian journalism group said.

"Tehran
should immediately and unconditionally release all of the detained journalists
and bring to an end the many unreasonable and arbitrary measures that are
restricting the flow of information," said CPJ Middle East and North Africa
Program Coordinator Mohamed Abdel Dayem.
"Detaining journalists for reporting news and commentary indicates the
government has something to hide."

On Sunday, Iranian officials asked Jon Leyne, the BBC's Tehran bureau chief, to
leave the country within 24 hours, the BBC reported.
Throughout last week, the BBC's Persian radio and television services were
disrupted as the result of electronic jamming that was traced back to Iran, the BBC
said. Since then the network has increased the number of satellites that carry
its Persian services.

The signals of other radio stations such as the U.S. government-backed Farsi-language Radio
Farda and the Farsi service of the Washington-based Voice of America have also been
jammed in Iran,
according to international news reports.

The Dubai-based satellite channel Al-Arabiya reported that
authorities ordered its Tehran
bureau to remain closed indefinitely after it was initially shut down for a
week on June 13, Al-Arabiya reported. Nabil
al-Khatib, executive news manager for the channel, said that Iranian
authorities accused the channel of reporting "news that is not necessarily fair
from their point of view."

The Association of Iranian Journalists said in a
statement today that security agents are visiting printing houses to censor
newspapers. The BBC Persian service reports that 180 Iranian journalists
expressed their concern in a petition about increased pressure on journalists
by the authorities. "[Censorship] has been unprecedented. Even during wartime
there was not this much pressure on publications," the BBC quoted
the petition as saying.

Here are the journalists whose arrests CPJ has verified:

On Sunday, security agents arrested Newsweek's Tehran correspondent, MaziarBahari, the magazine reported. The officers, who did
not identify themselves, took Bahari's laptop and several videotapes, the
newsweekly reported. "At this point, we are unaware of the charges against Maziar
Bahari and we do not yet know why he is being detained," Newsweek saidin a
statement today. "We respectfully ask that he be afforded all the rights he's
entitled to under Iranian law and that the case is resolved quickly."

Muhammad Ghouchani,
editor-in-chief of Etemad e Melli , the newspaper owned by defeated presidential
candidate Mehdi Karroubi, was arrested on Saturday by Ettelaat intelligence
agents, the BBC Persian service reported.
Mehamsa Amrabadi, a reporter for the
same newspaper, was arrested on June 15, her mother, Maryam Naqi, told
the BBC Persian service. Naqi told the BBC that the Ministry of Justice
informed her on June 18 that her daughter was being held at Evin Prison.

Issa Saharkhiz,
a freelance journalist and political activist, was arrested on Saturday in his
office, according to local news reports. Saharkhiz was director-general of publications
at the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance during Mohammad Khatami's
presidency.

Rajab-Ali Mazroui,
director of the Association of Iranian Journalists, was arrested on Saturday,
according to multiple local news reports. The details of his arrest remain
unknown at this time.

Sumaia Tawhidlu, who
blogs at Sahel e Salamat and is a supporter
of the defeated reformist candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, was arrested last
week, according to local news reports. The precise date of her arrest is unknown.

Shiwa Nazar-Ahari,
a blogger and a member of the
Committee of Human Rights Reporters, a local watchdog group, was arrested by
Ettelaat intelligence agents in her Tehran
office on June 14, the committee reported.

Kayvan Samimi ,
manager of the now defunct monthly magazine Nama, was arrested on June
14, according to multiple online articles.

In addition, CPJ documented three
other arrests last week. Before last week's crackdown, at least six
journalists were jailed in Iran.

There may be other journalists in detention; the government
has provided virtually no official information on the arrests and has taken extreme
measures to curb the flow of information within the country. Since
announcing the results of the now-disputed presidential elections on June 13,
Iranian authorities have arrested hundreds of high-profile supporters of the
three defeated presidential candidates.